Jeff Bezos' rocket launch faces delay, Elon Musk's SpaceX stays ahead 

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin postponed the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket early Monday morning due to "a few anomalies" detected during the mission countdown. The inaugural flight, aimed at reaching orbit and competing with Elon Musk's SpaceX in the satellite launch market, is now delayed by at least a day, though a longer postponement is likely as engineers troubleshoot the issue.

Standing at an imposing 30 stories tall, the partially reusable New Glenn rocket was poised for liftoff from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission, originally scheduled for 1:00 a.m. ET (0600 GMT), saw several delays during the countdown, pushing closer to the 4:00 a.m. deadline for its launch window. Blue Origin confirmed the decision to stand down after identifying a vehicle subsystem issue, saying, "We’re reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt."

This mission marks the culmination of a decade-long development effort costing billions of dollars. The rocket's first stage booster is designed to land on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 10 minutes after liftoff—a feat Bezos described as a primary concern. "The thing we're most nervous about is the booster landing," he shared in a pre-launch interview.

Secured within the New Glenn’s payload bay is the Blue Ring prototype, a maneuverable spacecraft intended for national security and satellite servicing missions. Successfully reaching orbit on an inaugural launch would be a rare accomplishment in the space industry, adding to the high stakes of this mission.

* Reuters contributed to this article.